Today, we mounted the fourth of our five clinics in the town of Parramos about an hour outside Guatemala City. Once again we were welcomed with open arms by the community and within 20 minutes, we were set up in the village school, ready to go. Today, Dental, Pharmacy, Distribution and the Children’s Centre were each in their own classrooms. Medical took over two classrooms. There was lots of space for line-ups with all our stations nicely spaced out. We saw many young children and babies today and more than our fair share of older folks as well. We’ve noticed that the further away from Guatemala City we go, the more prevalent the traditional Guatemalan dress becomes. The women make these colourful clothes and wear them proudly – another part of the rich culture here.
We’ve focused a fair bit on some of the unusual and challenging medical cases in the blog posts to date. 
Today, I thought we’d turn our attention to Dental, under the committed leadership of Dr. Jack Cottrell. As usual, the Dental team arrived early to set up their room to be ready when the rest of the group arrived. And once again, this hard-working group of dentists, dental assistants and support personnel toiled non-stop, all day long, without breaks performing wide-ranging procedures like extractions, restorative work and root canals. This is the kind of treatment that can really bring lasting change to the lives of the people we see – many of whom are in constant pain from tooth decay or infection. Jack’s “no patient is turned away” policy means this department is always busy and today was no exception.
Because soft drinks are actually cheaper than water here in Central America, kids are drinking Coke daily from an early age. This leads to dramatic decay, pain and suffering for children. These are the cases our team treats all day long. Often the damage is so severe that a child must be sedated before such significant work can be done. This falls to the Medical team. Dr. Mike Gilmour is handling all the paediatric sedations this trip and today he was busy medicating seven children requiring major dental work.
After weighing the child, Mike calculates the appropriate dose and administers it in liquid form. The child then sits in his mother’s arms, while the medication takes 
effect – usually about 30 minutes. Then the child is carried to Dental so the work can be done. Once completed, the child is carried back to Medical so Mike can monitor the recovery for approximately 90 minutes. His discharge policy is “If he can’t walk or talk, he’s not ready to go.” Today, it was “Sedation Central” in Mike’s room as a steady stream of challenging cases passed through his doors and then on to Jack in Dental. Great teamwork to address a chronic third world problem here in Guatemala.
At noon, I took a side trip up the road to the site of a permanent Medical Clinic that Speroway is helping to build. A twelve person construction team will come down in March to complete phase one, erecting the outside and inside walls. Ultimately, it will be staffed by local doctors but will also be a base for visiting physicians from Speroway and other organizations. A natural extension of our mobile clinic program, this is how Speroway can bring lasting and positive change to a community in need.
Tomorrow, we’ll wind up our week of clinics, back in the slums of Guatemala City – this one called La Paz. The poverty here is shocking and heart-breaking. We often wonder how much impact we can possibly have on such a monumental tragedy. Yet we know we’re making a difference in the lives of those we reach. So, how else can we effect change if not one child at a time? May our last day be our best. I’ll post one more update tomorrow night as we prepare to return home after an incredible week.
